Archive for the ‘RM Amelia Island’ tag

In 1989, the death of his father forced Toronto’s Patrick Sinn to return to his native Hong Kong for an extended visit. Suspecting he’d be gone for six months or more, Patrick covered his 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona and placed the car up on blocks in the parking garage of his downtown condominium. Though he made it back to Toronto in 1995, the Ferrari remained in its undisturbed state (becoming something of an urban legend in the process) until November of 2014, when Patrick made the difficult decision to offer his “condo find” Ferrari to its next owner at RM’s upcoming Amelia Island sale.

Returning from a 1971 ski trip to Chamonix, France, Patrick’s flight from Geneva was delayed. Looking for a way to kill time, he opted to spend the day at the Geneva International Auto Show, where he first encountered Ferrari’s stunning 365 GTB/4 Daytona coupe, launched in 1968. Captivated, Patrick inquired about purchasing one of his own, but quickly realized that visiting Ferrari’s offices in Modena would give him the ability to order a car configured to his specifications, and would likely lead to the fastest possible delivery time. Changing his travel plans, Patrick made the trek from France to Italy to order his new Daytona.

Selecting Bordeaux Red with a metallic base for the exterior and two-tone leather for the interior, Patrick ordered the car for European delivery, purchasing a supply of spare parts and consumables to go with it. In July of 1971, Ferrari advised him that chassis 14385 was ready for delivery, so Patrick flew to Europe and spent the next month exploring the continent before returning the Daytona to Ferrari for its initial service. Accompanying the car on its journey to North America aboard the QE2, Patrick reportedly made daily inspections of his prized coupe to ensure that no damage had occurred in the previous 24 hours.

Crossing the border from the United States into Canada, Patrick encountered his first obstacle, in the form of a Canadian Customs agent, who informed him the car did not meet safety and pollution requirements and therefore could not be brought into the country. Negotiations ensued, and after posting a bond in the required amount, Patrick was cleared to cross the border in his Daytona.

Over 18 years, Patrick racked up 93,594 kilometers (58,157 miles) in the Ferrari, confessing that he was once clocked at 180 km/h (112 MPH) behind the wheel. When his father died in 1989, he knew it would take several months to wrap up business and settle the estate, but six months turned to six years before Patrick returned to Toronto. Busy catching up on other things in his life, the Ferrari sat undisturbed in the parking garage of his condo, wrapped in its protective cloak and resting on concrete blocks, for the next 19 years.

Last month, Patrick came to the realization that it was time to pass along his one-owner Ferrari to its next caretaker. It’s been “returned to running condition,” to quote RM, but the auction house is quick to point out that additional mechanical reconditioning will be necessary to return the car to driver status. For the right buyer, however, this will serve as a plus and not a minus, as very few hands have ever spun wrenches on the Daytona’s 4.4-liter, 352-horsepower V-12 engine or its chassis.

Therein lies the beauty of this particular Ferrari. Its paint may no longer be pristine, and it’s likely that numerous mechanical systems will need servicing or rebuilding before the Daytona can be truly enjoyed, but the car comes sans mystery, and hence, sans doubt. This peace of mind comes at a price, and RM is predicting a selling price in excess of $600,000 when the Ferrari crosses the block at Amelia Island next March.

The Amelia Island sale will take place on March 14, 2015, at the Ritz-Carlton resort in Amelia Island, Florida. For additional details, visit RMAuctions.com.

As the 1980s came to a close, Porsche, Nissan and Jaguar were locked in a three-way battle for dominance in sportscar endurance racing. In 1988, Jaguar unleashed its latest four-wheel weapon to challenge for the title, and the XJR-9 went on to prove itself a versatile competitor in both IMSA and World Sportscar Championship competition. Next March, in the year that marks the 25th anniversary of its win at the 24 Hours of Daytona, XJR-9 chassis #388 will cross the block at RM’s Amelia Island sale.

As the 1988 season dawned, Tom Walkinshaw Racing prepared three XJR-9s to run in the North American IMSA Camel GTP series. Chassis #188 was built from a 1986 XJR-8, and would be used primarily for testing and as a backup car. Chassis #288 and #388 were built from the ground up as XJR-9s, but all three cars used the same 7.0-liter, 690-horsepower Jaguar V-12 drivetrain. At Le Mans, in the lower-drag XJR-9 LM bodywork, the cars were capable of speeds approaching 240 MPH; at Daytona, with its shorter straights and bumpier surface, the higher-downforce XJR-9s were still hitting 200 MPH, “day or night, dry or wet,” in the words of Martin Brundle.

In the XJR-9′s North American debut at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona, chassis #288 took the win, while #188 finished third and #388 retired after 512 laps with an engine failure. It would prove to be one of just two DNFs for #388 during the 1988 season; although the car failed to deliver a victory in 1988, #388 never qualified or finished out of seventh position during the nine races it completed. Of these nine, four events ended in podium finishes, an impressive performance for a racing car in its first year of competition. At San Antonio, in round 12, a collision would bring a premature end to #388s season, and #188 stepped in to compete while #388 was returned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) for repair.

During the 1989 season, the XJR-9s were joined by the XJR-10, which lacked the earlier car’s skirted fenders and substituted a turbocharged V-6 for the former car’s normally aspirated V-12. Jaguar was hedging its bets, believing that the older cars would prove more durable than the newer and faster turbos, and XJR-9 #388 delivered another consistent season. This time, the car contested 12 races, scoring podium finishes in eight and DNFs in just two events. As in 1988, however, #388′s season would end in San Antonio, where an accident during the race prompted another return to TWR.

The XJR-9 was now at the end of its life, so TWR rebuilt chassis #388 as an XJR-12D, complete with a normally aspirated 7.0-liter V-12 now rated at 730 horsepower. As with previous seasons, the car’s North American debut occurred at Daytona, and in 1990 it was chassis #388′s time to shine. With drivers Davy Jones, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace behind the wheel, the car delivered victory, with chassis 288 (also upgraded to XJR-12D specifications) finishing four laps down, but still in second place. Six weeks later, chassis #388 would deliver a podium finish at Sebring, all the more impressive considering the car’s 11th-place grid position at the start of the race.

With that, #388′s career effectively came to an end, as the faster turbocharged cars proved to be durable enough for the sprint races that made up the remainder of the season’s events. Chassis #388 did return to the track in January of 1991, but only for testing at Daytona. Despite its dated chassis and powertrain, #388 finished sixth in testing and proved to be the second-fastest non-turbocharged car in the field, a fitting end to its racing legacy.

RM describes chassis #388 as “the only remaining example of just two XJR-9 chassis ever manufactured as purpose-built IMSA specification cars,” and there’s no denying that the car played a key role in Jaguar’s third-place finish in the 1988 IMSA season and second-place finish in the 1989 IMSA season. The auction firm isn’t giving a precise pre-auction estimate for the car, but it does expect #388 to sell for “more than $3 million” when it crosses the stage in Amelia Island next March.

The Amelia Island sale takes place on March 14, 2015. For additional details, visit RMAuctions.com.

Delahaye reportedly built just 30 Competition Court chassis, and of these, just two short chassis variants are known to survive. Of these two, just one wears a body tag indicating that illustrator Georges Hamel (or “Geo Ham,” as he’s more commonly referred to) had a hand in the car’s styling, before turning construction over to coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi. On Saturday, this one-of-a-kind 1937 Delahaye 135 Competition Court Torpedo Roadster crossed the stage at Amelia Island, selling for a record-setting $6.6 million, including buyer’s fees.

Built on a “Grand Sport” chassis designed for racing competition, this particular Delahaye was delivered to the automaker in August of 1937 and used for display purposes until 1939, when the car’s original 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine (rated at 110 horsepower) was replaced by a 3.6-liter (technically, 3,557cc) MS-series inline six-cylinder that produced upwards of 130 horsepower. Thanks to a lawsuit that originated following the 1936 Paris Auto Show, the car’s aerodynamic bodywork also carried a brass tag on the right side reading “Creation Figoni-Falaschi-Geo.HAM, modele depose No. 7;” in other words, there could be no question regarding Hamel’s involvement in the car’s design.

In 1939, chassis 48667 was shipped to New York City, where it was exhibited in the French Pavillion at the 1939 World’s Fair. One of the show’s visitors was a young Malcolm Pray, and the Delahaye’s stunning lines left a lasting impression, to the point where Pray would sketch pictures of the car that had captured his imagination. Originally delivered to New York photographer Bob Grier in 1939, the car was sold to a dealership on Long Island in November of 1963. Repainted in red with black accents, the car’s shape was still instantly recognizable, and when an older Malcolm Pray (then a car dealer himself) came upon the Delahaye at a “dealer bazaar” in July of 1964, he purchased the car on the spot.

Pray would own the car until his death in August 2013. Refinished in cream with blue in 1970, the car was used sparingly by Pray and his family and kept largely out of sight until 1994, when it was shown at the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance in honor of Delahaye’s 100th anniversary. In 1995, Malcolm and his wife took the car to Europe, where it participated in the Bordeaux to Paris Rallye and the Louis Vuitton Concours d’Elegance. Known jokingly as Malcolm’s “French Mistress,” the car remained the crown jewel of the Pray collection, and on Saturday set an RM Amelia Island auction record when it sold for $6.6 million.

Industrial designer Brooks Stevens may be best known for his automotive designs, but his pen also sketched ideas for bicycles, tricycles and motorcycles. Exactly how much involvement Stevens had with the 1978 Transitron Mk II electric motorcycle remains unclear, but the prototype did spend time in his collection before the designer’s death in 1995. Later this week, the Transitron Mk II prototype will cross the block in Amelia Island, giving bidders a chance to acquire a unique bit of both motorcycle and electric vehicle history.

When the Transitron Mk II appeared on the scene in 1978, it was full of innovative ideas. The concept of an electric motorcycle was nothing new, but the Transitron Mk II was far more than just an electric motor connected to a drive wheel; its 24-volt, 95-amp Baldor electric motor was linked via a primary drive belt to a four-speed automatic transmission. This transmission was linked to the rear wheel via a drive chain, and the setup reportedly allowed the Transitron to reach a top speed in the neighborhood of 50 MPH while maintaining a range-friendly electric motor speed of just 2,500 RPM.

Power came from a series of four deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, which, when fully charged, reportedly provided a run time of up to six hours (though it’s not clear if this is at a sustained motor speed of 2,500 RPM). They also added a significant amount of weight to the Transitron, which tipped the scales at roughly 628 pounds. Weight being the enemy of acceleration, the Mk II gained speed at a somewhat leisurely pace, even with the proprietary four-speed automatic transmission, and period reports claim that a run from 0-30 MPH took between six and seven seconds.

A Harley-Davidson Sportster frame housed the batteries, controller, electric motor and transmission, and much of the bodywork (including a faux “gas tank”) also came from Harley-Davidson’s parts bin. The wheels and drum brakes were Sportster units as well, but that’s where Harley-Davidson’s participation stopped. Although Transitron was actively seeking funding and development partners, Harley Davidson showed no interest in pursuing sponsorship or development of an electric motorcycle.

As electric motorcycle forumElMoto relates, Brooks Stevens showed interest in the Transitron Mk II, and worked with builder Steve Fehr to help test the prototype. While Fehr built the bike in Honolulu, Hawaii, Stevens himself allegedly racked up some 360 miles of on-track testing of the prototype in Wisconsin, and the Transitron Mk II eventually ended up in Stevens’s own transportation museum in Mequon, Wisconsin. Following Stevens’s death in 1995, the Transitron Mk II passed through the hands of a few collectors before ending up at the Wheels Through Time Museum in North Carolina, on loan from its current owner.

Today, many would argue that the electric motorcycle is an idea whose time has come, but that wasn’t the case in 1978. Fehr had difficulty finding investors in Transitron, and it’s not clear if any Mk II models were ever produced (or, for that matter, if Fehr ever recovered the $70,000 he’d spent on the bike’s development). Mike Corbin, who’d achieved an electric motorcycle land speed record in 1973, saw only limited success with his Corbin-Gentry electric motorcycle, launched in 1974, and if that much publicity couldn’t buy sales, what chance did an unknown company like Transitron have? Though never a commercial success, the Mk II does serve as a reminder that the dawn of the second “electric age” isn’t exactly something new, and RM predicts the bike will sell between $25,000 and $35,000.

The Transitron Mk II will cross the block as part of RM’s Amelia Island sale, which takes place on Saturday, March 8. For additional details, visit RMAuctions.com.

UPDATE (10.March): The Transitron Mk II sold for a price of $11,000, including buyer’s fees.

Gathering one of each of GM’s triumvirate of show-car-derived limited-production 1953 convertibles – the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Skylark, and Oldsmobile Fiesta – is a fairly popular pursuit among hardcore car collectors, but it usually takes quite a bit of planning and legwork to track down all three. Then again, the task would be made much easier if all three appeared at the same auction, as is the case when Richard and Linda Kughn’s trifecta collection crosses the block in March.

While 1953 was a banner year for automotive styling, few cars made as big an impression as the Eldorado, Skylark and Fiesta, all introduced as Motorama show cars in 1952. Despite the fact that all three were sold for staggering prices when new, it’s said that GM lost money on each example sold, as the cars were essentially hand-built with the utmost attention to detail. The Buick and the Cadillac marked the 50th anniversary of their respective brands, and all were seen as adding prestige to the models they were based upon.

While each boasted unique styling, all featured common design traits such as a shortened windshield, a convertible roof and cut-down doors, adding a custom touch to each example’s appearance. The Cadillac and the Oldsmobile, the most expensive of the trio, featured a wraparound panoramic windshield that required modification of the standard car’s cowl, hood and dash, and both wore rear fender skirts (the Buick, on the other hand, boldly displayed its rear wheels). All came with leather upholstery and virtually every option available on “lesser” models as standard equipment, and each was built in a very limited quantity designed to maintain exclusivity.

Originally priced at $7,750, the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible was the most expensive of GM’s semi-custom offerings. Based on the Series 62 convertible, the original Eldorado has been described as Cadillac’s first “personal” production luxury car, meant to compete against the finest cars the world had to offer. Its 331-cu.in. V-8, fed by a single four-barrel carburetor and mated to a four-speed HydraMatic transmission, produced 221 horsepower, making the Eldorado (and hence, the Series 62 which shared its engine) the most powerful car built in America at the time. In addition to the standard power brakes, power steering, power windows and power front seat, the Cadillac featured amenities such as a metal boot cover that doubled as a parcel shelf when the top was in place, an under-seat heater and “ElectoVac” wipers, which provided the vacuum-driven windshield wipers an electric motor assist when needed. Chassis 536244493, scheduled to cross the stage during RM’s Amelia Island sale, is one of only 532 examples constructed, and last sold at the same RM auction in 2006, where it traded hands at a price of $132,000, including buyer’s fees. RM’s pre-auction estimate for the Eldorado this time around ranges from $140,000 to $180,000.

1953 Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta convertible.

Though initially less expensive, many collectors believe that the 1953 Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta convertible is the most desirable of the trio, thanks to its rarity. Only 458 were constructed before production ended, as consumers failed to embrace the car’s $5,715 sticker price, nearly double that of the $2,963 Oldsmobile 98 convertible on which it was based. The Fiesta did include the only modified engine of the bunch, with its 303-cu.in. V-8 rated at 170 horsepower (five more than the 98), thanks to slightly higher compression and a revised intake manifold. Like the Cadillac, power accessories were standard, and the four-speed HydraMatic transmission handled shifting duties. Chassis 539M26760 will cross the block at RM’s Amelia Island sale, where it last changed ownership in 2009, selling for $143,000. This time, RM estimates that it will sell for $120,000 to $160,000.

Originally priced at $5,000, the 1953 Buick Skylark convertible was produced in the highest quantity, with a total of 1,690 units built. Based on the Roadmaster convertible, the Buick lacked the wraparound windshield of the other semi-custom offerings, but sported a more prominent mid-body dip and opened up the rear wheel wells to show off the convertible’s sporty Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels. The Buick sweepspear grew in length on the Skylark, extending past the rear wheel wells to nearly meet the taillamps, paralleling the fender lines for much of its length. New for the 1953 model year, the Skylark’s 322-cu.in. V-8 (also found in the Buick Roadmaster) produced 188 horsepower and came mated to a modified Dynaflow automatic transmission; as described by Buick, the “Twin-Turbine Dynaflow” improved performance by 10 percent, adding to the Skylark’s sporty nature. Sold by RM at its Michigan sale in September 2004, chassis 16977916 last traded hands at a selling price of $87,740. RM’s pre-auction estimate for the Skylark ranges from $120,000 to $160,000.

UPDATE (10.March): Including buyer’s fees, the 1953 Buick Skylark convertible sold for a price of $156,750, the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible sold for a price of $184,250, and the 1953 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Fiesta convertible sold for a price of $181,500.

Amelia Island always draws a strong, well-heeled crowd of collectors, and RM’s auction at the concours bore that out again for 2013. Its 15th annual sale at the Florida concours grossed more than $26.8 million on 88 lots, with a 92-percent sell-through rate.

The top sale on the day was a 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Walker-LaGrande Convertible Coupe, one of only three produced and the only supercharged example; it sold for $4.51 million, the highest sale of any car on the weekend. The second highest sale at RM was a 1933 Stutz DV32 Convertible Victoria, which doubled its pre-sale estimate to hammer at $1,512,500, a new record for a Stutz sold at auction.

Gord Duff, an RM Car Specialist, said: “Our Amelia Island auction is always a highlight of our global calendar, and this year’s sale was another incredible success for RM. The results achieved for the Duesenberg and the Stutz in particular illustrate that great cars are continuing to attract great prices at auction.”

As we saw at Gooding, Ferraris continue to dominate the high-end market; a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB sold for $1,375,000, while a 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Berlinetta “Tuboscocca” came in at $1,237,500.

We were somewhat startled by the selling price of a 1958 Fiat 600 Jolly: a jaw-dropping $110,000, the same as a 1953 Allard K3 roadster. Then again, if you really need classic transportation to and from your yacht the next time you dock in Monte Carlo, you could do worse.

The Marmon prototype we profiled leading up to the auction went for $407,000—not bad for a completely one-of-a-kind car.

The top 10 sales from RM show the consistent allure of gorgeous, rare classics and powerful sports cars:

It’s always interesting to see the “bottom” results from an auction, particularly one that deals in such immaculate vehicles as the RM Amelia Island sale. You know it’s a heck of an auction when one of the least-expensive cars sold is a 1936 Cord 810 going for $77,000.

While numerous challengers have attempted to beat Ferrari at its own game – producing some of the most striking, most technologically advanced, and best performing cars in the world – we can think of only one from a Spanish truck builder, and what has to be the most flamboyant of those cars, a 1954 Pegaso Z-102 bodied by Saoutchik, will go up for auction this weekend.

Founded in 1946 by ENASA, a state-owned manufacturing company that bought the assets of Hispano-Suiza, Pegaso employed the highly regarded engineer Wilfredo Ricart, who before World War II served as Alfa Romeo’s chief engineer for special projects and reportedly was responsible for Enzo Ferrari’s dismissal from that same company. At Pegaso – which was chiefly concerned with building trucks and buses to help the country rebuild after its civil war and World War II – Ricart set about designing the Z-102, a road car more advanced than any other on the planet. Its 2,473cc V-8 not only used dual overhead camshafts and all-alloy construction, but also dry-sump lubrication and desmodromic valve actuation. Its 92-inch-wheelbase chassis employed a five-speed limited-slip transaxle, along with De Dion rear suspension and torsion bar front suspension, along with rack-and-pinion steering. With a top speed of 155 to 160 MPH, the Z-102 was reportedly the fastest production car in the world when it entered production in 1951.

Like Ferrari, Pegaso decided to build just the chassis and drivetrain and farm the bodies out to coachbuilders. According to RM’s auction description for this 1954 Pegaso Z-102, chassis number 0102-153-0136, of the 84 total Z-102s built, French coachbuilder Saoutchik built 18, in two different series; of the eight second-series Saoutchik Z-102s, this is the only convertible (Saoutchik did build three other Z-102 convertibles – a prototype and two first-series cars). Finished in April of 1954 as a convertible with the later 165hp 2,814cc version of the 32-valve V-8, its first owner decided to convert it into a berlinetta four years later, and it remained that way until the early 1990s, when it was returned to its original configuration.

Reportedly never judged at a concours event, the Z-102 is estimated to sell for between $1.25 million and $1.75 million when it crosses the block at RM’s Amelia Island auction, which takes place this Saturday, March 9. For more information, visit RMAuctions.com.

UPDATE (15.March 2013): The Pegaso bid up to $700,000 but didn’t sell.

Another trio of the cars (built by Gene Winfield, H&H Flatheads and So-Cal Speedshops) were recently sold at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction, raising more than $12,000 for the museum’s Robert E. Petersen Free School Bus program, which brings children from the underserved schools of Los Angeles to the museum for field trips.

As a part of the Museum’s Deuce Week celebration of the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Ford last year, nine of the hottest hot-rod builders in the country were invited to create pedal car versions of their personal style of hot rod. Each builder started with a pedal car 1932 Ford Roadster and then used their vision, craftsmanship and passion to create the one-off customized collectibles.

For more information about the available pedal cars and the Petersen Automotive Museum, visit DeuceWeek.org, and for more information about RM’s Amelia Island sale, scheduled for March 9, visit RMAuctions.com.

Third time’s a charm? Most observers would expect a one-off prototype of an American car powered by a V-12 and with highly advanced technology for the early 1930s to ring up blockbuster numbers in the seven- or even eight-figure range whenever it heads to auction, yet the last two trips across the block for the Marmon HCM Twelve produced less-than-expected results. In a couple of months, though, it will get another chance at making history at RM’s Amelia Island auction.

Granted, the $891,000 that the HCM Twelve sold for in 2007 at RM’s Meadow Brook auction was a little more than couch cushion change; in fact, it represented the top sale at that auction. Yet many have pointed out that the late collector John O’Quinn got a screaming deal at that price, considering the fact that RM’s pre-auction estimate ranged from $1 million to $1.25 million. Then again, how does one set a price on a car like this, unique in every sense of the word?

The product of two automotive visionaries coming together for a followup to one of the most acclaimed cars of the multi-cylinder era, the HCM Twelve represented Howard C. Marmon’s last Hail Mary shot at keeping his Marmon Motor Car Company afloat. In 1933, with the Sixteen losing sales due to the ongoing Depression, Marmon looked into building a 12-cylinder car, but not just any 12-cylinder car. With Jerome Felts doing the engineering work, Marmon would build the car around a central backbone chassis, sliding pillar independent front suspension and an independent rear suspension with inboard brakes and four transverse leaf springs. The 45-degree V-12, based on the Sixteen’s engine with four cylinders lopped off, produced about 150hp; though Felts originally specified a rear-mounted transmission, it was later replaced with a conventionally mounted transmission. As was Marmon’s m.o., aluminum was extensively used throughout the car.

When it came time to body the innovative chassis, Mr. Marmon turned once again to the young designer of the Sixteen, Walter Dorwin Teague Jr., who developed the design from a model he had made inspired partly by Frank Lockhart’s Stutz Blackhawk. (That same model led to a working relationship with Edsel Ford, which we’ve previously covered.) Marmon’s stylists then added their own touches to the design, most notably the Pierce-Arrow-inspired fender-mounted headlamps. Mr. Marmon, his company in receivership by the time the HCM Twelve was finished, tried to sell the design to various other automakers, and when that tactic failed, he stored it on his North Carolina estate. After his death, it passed through just a handful of owners, including Brooks Stevens, who displayed it in his museum.

Restored around the turn of the century, it took a Best in Class award second place in class in 2001 at Pebble Beach and then sold to O’Quinn in 2007. Following O’Quinn’s death, his estate tried to sell it at RM’s Monterey sale in 2011; against a pre-auction estimate of $800,000 to $1 million, it bid up to $475,000, short of its reserve, and failed to sell. RM has yet to release a pre-auction estimate for the HCM Twelve this time around.

RM’s Amelia Island auction will take place March 9 at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. For more information, visit RMAuctions.com.